Ellie is Cool Now

Chapter 4

It's in the Uber ride on the way to the airport that my phone dings with a new email from Vic.

Oh boy.

I'm going to chicken out on this list. I'm not hooking up with anyone and I'm seriously not going to stick around for longer than I have to. The plane tickets are for the whole weekend, and there are reunion-related activities Saturday and Sunday, but I am only going to the reunion. Andy did not explicitly say I had to do anything besides that.

I take a deep breath, pretend to listen while the Uber driver talks to me, and open the email.

Subject: Operation: ELLIE IS COOL NOW

ELLIE! We stayed up way too late making this list so you are 1000% not allowed to chicken out — we KNOW you are thinking about it. STOP.

Without further ado...

1. Hook up with the Prom King.

2. Have better hair than Best Hair.

3. Grab a beer with Best All-Around

4. Compare lives with Most Likely to Succeed.

5. Create a piece of art with Most Artistic.

6. Finally get invited to a party with all the "popular kids."

7. Go to a basketball game and out-spirit Most Spirited.

8. Pull a prank on the Class Clown.

9. Win a game of something against Most Athletic.

10. Get your high school crush to help you with at least one of the items on this list.

xo

V & T

It's a good list. The last one does make my heart drop a little bit. But Mark isn't going to be there. There's no way. I hit reply on my email and start to type, "You can forget number ten — he won't even be there —"

Mid-type, my phone lights up.

It's Andy. F-U-C-K. What now?

I answer, "Hi, Andy."

"I just heard about the list," he says, not missing a beat.

Shit. I wait.

"Susie is getting your emails since you're out of town." There it is. It's the studio email, and therefore this is now studio fodder.

"Wonderful," I say, sarcastically. "It's a joke, really. I'm no —"

"It's brilliant," he interrupts. "Way to raise the stakes."

Oh, of course he would think that. He's an evil mastermind writer person. A real-life version of a list like this is a writer's wet dream. He's visualizing all the ways this list will create drama, while not thinking about the real-life person it's tearing apart.

"Sure, but I don't need to raise the stakes. This is real life," I reply.

"This is Hollywood." Actually, it's Ohio.

"With all due respect, I don't think you can force me to do the things on that list."

"You're absolutely right. I can't force you to do anything, Ellie. Have some fucking agency in your own story."

"Andy, I'm not hooking up with someone for this job —"

"Do what feels right to you," he says, taking another labored pause. As if anyone in Hollywood has ever said that and meant it. "More than co-executive producer is on the line. You want to be a showrunner someday, to be in charge. You have to own the climb."